


Unhinged

by day



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Hurt Stiles, Kinda, My headcanons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-08
Updated: 2013-07-08
Packaged: 2017-12-18 03:09:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/874953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/day/pseuds/day
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles starts to crack under the pressure.</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>Takes place after s3e5</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unhinged

**Author's Note:**

> Sorta spoilers for the first 5 eps of s3. Sorry if the spacing is off and for blatant mispelled words. I did my best to write on a malfunctioning android omg
> 
> this is based off that gifset+tags floating around tumblr about how stiles is becomung unhinged. i cant link it since im on mobile :c

Stiles is slowly losing it, and no one is noticing.

 

 It starts off small- accidentally yelling when he's not Lydia's first contact in an emergency, snapping at teachers when they get on his case about an off topic assignment (all of his friends are dying or are soon to be dead, does it really matter if he writes an essay about the importance of pop culture instead of the Cold War?), even losing his temper with Coach Finstock instead of finding his antics amusing like he used to. 

 

Stiles knows it's the stress. He knows what's happening because it has happened before; after his mom died he would snap and scowl at anyone who wasnt his father or Scott. 

 

The only difference between then and now is that Stiles was grieving for the already deceased, and now he's worried about who's going to die next. (A similarity being he feels responsible for both.) 

 

(Another difference being Scott noticed back then. But Stiles cant complain since it's his fault that Scott is now preoccupied with staying alive. He doesnt want to think about the many other things that are his fault.)

 

(Heather. He means Heather.)

 

Stiles tries to reign it in. He honestly does, because he knows logically that snapping at others won't solve his problems. He knows yelling at teachers won't bring his innocent and naive best friend back. He knows raising his voice won't bring Heather or Erica back. 

 

He knows screaming and being angry won't bring his mother back.

 

 Logically, he knows.

 

 Emotionally, he doesn't care. He just can't bring himself to care because everyone around him is dying, so what does it matter if he steps on a few toes? (It matters a lot.)

 

He thinks the breaking point is when he returns to Beacon Hills to find out that the Alpha he's been silently grieving over isn't actually dead. He maliciously sneers at Derek, says 'bummer youre still alive' and goes home and cries because he's a 16 year old virgin who will probably die before his 18th birthday. 

 

He knows he's reached a new level of low, he knows he's let himself go too far, when he ends up hurting the one person he vowed to never harm. 

 

"Dad, just listen to me." Stiles pleads. "You cant- you cant lock me in tonight, especially if you're going out. Please, dad, I-"

 

"I have a job, Stiles, a duty. You've been breaking curfews and lying left and right. I cant just stay home because my teenage son has a hunch-"

 

And Stiles just loses it because can't his dad see that he's trying to keep him safe? Can't he see how hard Stiles is trying not to let the world he opened devour the one constant he has left? 

 

It comes out of his mouth before he can stop it. "Mom would have believed me." And the way that his father's face contorts is a physical blow to his heart. He doesn't wait for a reply, just stomps upstairs and tries to quell the panic. He tries and fails, just like everything else in his life. 

 

He stops trying after that, and now everyone notices. He was ignored before by his peers, but now he's being avoided with intent. 

 

He cant last one conversation without using biting sarcasm or outright yelling. 

 

He's unhinged and it grants him the attention of the neighborhood Alpha. 

 

He's pulled aside after a particularly disastrous planning attempt with whats left of the Hale pack. (Stiles ended up forcing Cora to shift. He doesnt like her much. Not that he's trying.)

 

He thinks Derek's about to go all big brother and chew Stiles out for baiting Cora, and he has a seething retort on his tongue when Derek's expression almost looks worried. "What's going on with you?"

 

Stiles is floored into vulnerability but he quickly catches himself, plastering on a smirk that has Derek's eyes narrowing. "Gee, Derek, do you mean mentally or physically? Because ADHD can be considered an ailment, and i've been told my anxiety levels are high, I have a few kinks in my neck-"

 

" You know what I mean." Derek growls. "You're being unnecessarily... abrasive."

 

"You really shouldn't be talking, big guy." Stiles snorts. "You're not exactly the poster boy for patience and good decisions yourself. I'm not really nice, in case you havent noticed."

 

" Its not that. I am fully aware that you're an asshole." Derek pulls a completely Derek move and ignores Stiles' sarcastic thanks as he plows on. "I've gotten used to it over the summer. But now you're deliberately antagonizing others as if you're testing how far their patience will go."

 

"You can't think I'm stupid enough to taunt a werewolf that can rip my very fragile, and very human, throat out." Stiles rolls his eyes and tries to leave but Derek grabs his shoulder.

 

"What are you trying to do?" Derek demands.

 

 Stiles pulls away like he's been burned. "I'm not trying to do anything. I'm surviving. I'm coping. I'm not letting the fact that everyone around me is soon going to die, not excluding myself, turn me into an anxiety ridden, weak, and bawling mess. I'm doing what I have to do to survive in this fucking place." 

 

"You dont need to help us-"

 

"Yes, I do. I'm the reason Scott had to give up his old life. If I didn't drag him out into the woods, none of this would have happened!" Stiles is already raising his voice.

 

"Peter would still be alive and this town would be full of unstable werewolves, if Scott hadn't been bitten and if you didn't help him. Innocent people would have died." Derek reasons, and doesn't that say something that Derek is reasoning with Stiles. 

 

"Newsflash: innocents are dying anyway!" Stiles feels tears prickle his eyes and he tries to leave but Derek is blocking him. "What do you want from me? Huh, Derek? An apology? Well, you'll have to wait till you're buried for that one because everyone I regularly apologize to is dead." 

 

"Stiles..." Derek says softly. 

 

"I'm sorry, okay?" The words tear out viciously. "I'm sorry I can't handle fear and stress and grief like everyone else! I'm sorry I had to drag Scott out into the woods and ruin his life. I'm sorry that I didnt save Erica, that I didn't look hard enough with you this summer. I'm sorry that I killed Heather. I'm sorry that I'm such a fuck up son. I'm sorry that I'm still not over my moms death- fuck, okay, Derek? I'm fucking sorry."

 

Derek's arms are wrapped around Stiles, trying to keep the pieces together as the boy sobs. 

 

Stiles wants to laugh to himself. The man whose entire family was burned alive, the man regularly beaten and manipulated has it more together than he does. 

 

"God, I'm unhinged." Stiles chokes.

 

"Well I've been told I have a screw up my ass, so you could use that..." Derek trails off. 

 

Stiles doesn't know whether to laugh or cry


End file.
